Forgot to add jobs on application? Forum

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bearhair89

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Forgot to add jobs on application?

Post by bearhair89 » Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:34 pm

Hey guys, this is my first time posting on the TLS forum...so here goes. Question about the Employment section of the app. I've been out of school for 10+ years. Am I expected to list absolutely every job I've held in that time? Even restaurant jobs that I held for 4-6 weeks? I've already submitted one of my apps, it didn't even occur to me that I was expected to list EVERY job I've ever held and not just the ones that are moderately relevant to my standing as a prospective law student. Should I reach out to the admissions committee and ask to amend my employment history at this point? Wait until I'm granted acceptance to the program? Not sure what the appropriate protocol is here. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

QContinuum

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Re: Forgot to add jobs on application?

Post by QContinuum » Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:45 pm

Unless the app instructions have changed greatly, I don't think there's a requirement to list every. last. job. you've ever held. I wouldn't list 4-6 week stints as a waiter or whatnot. List any significant employment/internships, cut out anything irrelevant or dated.

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cavalier1138

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Re: Forgot to add jobs on application?

Post by cavalier1138 » Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:01 pm

QContinuum wrote:Unless the app instructions have changed greatly, I don't think there's a requirement to list every. last. job. you've ever held. I wouldn't list 4-6 week stints as a waiter or whatnot. List any significant employment/internships, cut out anything irrelevant or dated.
As I recall, the apps do require that, because they're the base for the bar application. One of the assistant deans actually spent time on it at our orientation and specifically noted that if we needed to add/change anything in our job history, we should do it sooner rather than later. If your employment history submitted to the bar doesn't match your law school apps, it raises some issues.

HangingAround

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Re: Forgot to add jobs on application?

Post by HangingAround » Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:50 pm

bearhair89 wrote:Hey guys, this is my first time posting on the TLS forum...so here goes. Question about the Employment section of the app. I've been out of school for 10+ years. Am I expected to list absolutely every job I've held in that time? Even restaurant jobs that I held for 4-6 weeks? I've already submitted one of my apps, it didn't even occur to me that I was expected to list EVERY job I've ever held and not just the ones that are moderately relevant to my standing as a prospective law student. Should I reach out to the admissions committee and ask to amend my employment history at this point? Wait until I'm granted acceptance to the program? Not sure what the appropriate protocol is here. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
I amended as a spring 2L to add a dumb job that I did not include on my law school app but would need to include on my bar app as I was told the first thing the bar folks do is compare the two. It took a simple email and the school was just like "your app has been amended, thanks." My bar exam app even asked for unpaid jobs, so It was pretty thorough. That said, I think the only thing schools are concerned about in terms of you amending the app is you amending it for something negative, like you didn't tell them about a drinking ticket or something. So I don't think it matters when you amend it - at this point for the app you have already sent in, I would just wait and amend it down the road. For the others, if it's going to make you look a little ridiculous (idk, maybe some jobs would) then feel free to omit and add later once you go there in my opinion. Same can be said for if it's just a ton of small jobs - though if admission folks cared about it they'd probably think you were a hard worker for having so many (but they don't care).

IN sum, it doesn't matter yet. It matters for the bar (as someone else noted), and then the 2 will likely need to match. So do whatever now, just fix it in time for the bar.

QContinuum

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Re: Forgot to add jobs on application?

Post by QContinuum » Wed Dec 12, 2018 10:16 pm

cavalier1138 wrote:
QContinuum wrote:Unless the app instructions have changed greatly, I don't think there's a requirement to list every. last. job. you've ever held. I wouldn't list 4-6 week stints as a waiter or whatnot. List any significant employment/internships, cut out anything irrelevant or dated.
As I recall, the apps do require that, because they're the base for the bar application. One of the assistant deans actually spent time on it at our orientation and specifically noted that if we needed to add/change anything in our job history, we should do it sooner rather than later. If your employment history submitted to the bar doesn't match your law school apps, it raises some issues.
My bad. Turns out, my law school didn't have a separate "employment" section of the application - so the only place past jobs were listed was on my resume, which was (naturally) curated to focus on only relevant items. I dug out some of my other law school apps to check and those apps included a freestanding "employment" section, where indeed every last position ever held should be listed (in contrast to the employment section on one's resume).

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